What do you do about malicious or abusive users?

Every action that could effect the quality of content on Braingle is reviewed and validated before it is made permanent. Therefore, it is very unlikely that someone could negatively effect the quality of brain teasers or quizzes on this website.

Comments and postings in the forums, talkboxes and other posting areas are moderated to remove swear words and abusive remarks.

Everything that a user does on this website is tracked. If the website notices that a particular user has a trend of doing things that are not in the best interest of the website, this user will be blocked from performing those actions.

If you receive an offensive Private Message, please use the "blacklist" functionality to prevent this person from sending any more PMs to you in the future. If you witness someone being abusive in the chat room, please use the "ignore" button to block this person's comments from being displayed. If someone has created an offensive profile, wiki or posting somewhere on the website, please use the "report abuse" link adjacent to this offensive content.

Reporting abuse using these built in tools will flag the user's comments for review by the site administrator. Sending an email to the site administrator is not an effective way of reporting abuse because there is no audit trail to confirm the abuse.

Who is an editor?

Editors are special users of the website who have been selected to help us review teasers before they are approved or rejected. Editors can edit teasers for spelling, grammar, formatting and correctness.

Can you explain the categories for brain teasers?

Cryptography - Cryptography teasers are phrases, expressions, quotes or lists that have been encoded in some way (frequently replacing letters with other letters, although other methods are acceptable). You need to figure out the encoding method and then decode the message to find the answer. Cryptography teasers generally fall into three categories, Cryptograms, Cryptolists and Cryptomath.

Group - Group brain teasers give you two groups of objects. You have to figure out what makes the two groups different.

Language - Language brain teasers are those that involve the English language. It often requires you to manipulate words and letters.

Letter-Equations - Letter Equations are well known phrases or facts where the key words have been replaced with the first letter of that word. These are often in the form of an equation, which contain a number, an = sign and the rest of the obscured phrase or fact.

Logic - Logic puzzles require logical reasoning.

Logic-Grid - Logic Grid puzzles come with a handy interactive grid that will help you solve the puzzle based on the given clues.

Optical Illusion - An optical illusion is a visually perceived image that is deceptive or misleading.

Science - Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.

Probability - Probability puzzles require you to weigh all the possibilities and pick the most likely outcome.

Series - Series teasers are where you try to complete the sequence of a series of letters, numbers or objects.

Situation - Situation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.

Trick - Trick brain teasers appear difficult at first, but they have a trick that makes them really easy.

Trivia - Trivia brain teasers have some element of trivia in them, but they are not just pure trivia questions.

Other - Other brain teasers are ones that don't fit into any of the other categories.

I posted a comment, but its not there anymore.

Braingle.com is a moderated family oriented forum. Any comments that are deemed to be excessively negative or abusive will be promptly removed. This does not mean that you cannot post criticism of a teaser, but it does mean that you need to do so in a constructive manner. Comments like, "This is the stupidest brain teaser ever" will always be deleted. Any comments with inappropriate language will be deleted. If you feel there is a comment on this website that should be removed, please let us know by clicking 'bad' link next to the comment.

How do I report a duplicate teaser that I find?

Thanks to the efforts of our talented editors, Braingle has very few duplicates. However, sometimes they slip through, and you may notice them. For each duplicate teaser that you correctly identify, you will earn 50 points once the duplicate is verified by the Editors. Reporting duplicates is only available to those users with at least 500 total points.

My question wasn't answered here.

What types of things trigger notifications?

From time to time, Braingle will notify you of important events that have happened to your account. These notifications will appear at the top of the page. Here is a list of the events that trigger a notification.

Brain Teasers
Having a brain teaser approved or rejected.
Having a comment posted on your brain teaser.
Having a comment posted on a brain teaser in your watchlist.

Trivia
Having a quiz approved, returned or rejected.
Having a correction suggested on your quiz.
Having a comment posted on your quiz.
Having a comment posted on a quiz in your watchlist.

Games
When it's your turn to make a move in Chess.
When it's your turn to make a move in Checkers.
When someone challenges you in Foodfight.
When you win the bake-off in CookieWorld.
A new round has started in the Who's the Boss game
A new round has started in the Werewolf game

Community
When you receive a Private Message.
When someone adds you to their buddy list.
A post is added to a forum topic on my watchlist
A post is added to a talkbox topic on my watchlist

Who is a Quizmaster?

A Quizmaster is responsible for reading each quiz and reviewing it for factual accuracy, spelling and grammar. Quizmasters are also responsible for making corrections to existing questions that are suggested by other Brainglers. Each Quizmaster can be responsible for up to four categories.

A Quizmaster is elected to their position by a democratic vote. Any established Braingle user can vote for a Quizmaster during an election. Once elected, a Quizmaster serves a 12 month term, at which point their position comes up for reelection. A Quizmaster can be reelected an unlimited number of times.

Any Quizmaster who reaches the 2,500 reviewed quiz milestone and maintains a QM grade of at least a B will get a free Premium subscription to Braingle.

Why was the teaser I submitted rejected?

Over 75% of the teasers submitted to this website are duplicates. We will not approve duplicates. Sometimes a duplicate slips by our expert editors. When a duplicate is discovered, the most recently added one is usually removed. You can help us find duplicates by reporting them with the Duplicate Reporter and earn yourself 50 points in the process once your duplicate report is verified by the Editors.

Sometimes teasers are not exact duplicates, but are close enough that they seem like the same puzzle. For example if you have one teaser about the probability of picking certain color balls out of a box, and another teaser about picking different types of fruits out of a basket. It is likely that this will be considered to be a duplicate if the rest of the teaser is the same.

If you see an older teaser which you feel is a duplicate of another older teaser (any teasers which have been on site for at least one (1) year), these teasers are not open/subject to duplicate submission as they are considered "grandfathered" onto the site.

We will not approve teasers with numerous spelling or grammar errors. Therefore, please check your teaser very carefully for any errors before submitting it.

Any teaser that is found to be taken from another site and is copyright protected, will be rejected. Please do not submit copyright protected teasers.

Due to the manner in which web sites change content, please do not use web site addresses in your teaser unless it is in the Notes to Editor's section. Any teaser with a web site address in the teaser will be rejected.

Please allow the Editors sufficient time to review your teaser once it is in the Editing queue. Although all teasers are processed as quickly as possible, it does take time to review, discuss, and approve/reject which is why the time needed for each teaser review varies.

What do all the widgets in the Chat room do?

The drop down box labeled "Ignore" will allow you to ignore certain users in the chat room. Simply select their name and hit the "Go" button and you will no longer see anything that they type. To reverse the ignore, simple select their name and hit "Go" again. You can also use this widget to turn on and off "Private Mode". When "Private Mode" is on, you will only see messages that are whispered to you. The general chatter in the room will be invisible.

The "Hide Entries/Exits" checkbox will turn off the messages that are posted when a user enters or leaves the chatroom.

The "Sound" checkbox turns sounds on and off.

The "My color" widget allows you to change the color that your chat messages appear in.

The "Font size" widget allows you to enlarge or shrink the font size of your chat window.

The drop down box that is labeled "Speak" allows you to change whether you are speaking to everyone, or just whispering to one person. When you whisper to someone, nobody else in the room can see what you are typing.

I found an error on the site, what should I do?

If the error is in a brain teaser or quiz, and you have at least 500 points, then you can submit the correction yourself for approval. For each correction you make that is approved, you will earn yourself 5 points.

Just use the link "Correct This Teaser" when you are viewing a teaser, or the "Problems?" link when viewing a quiz.

Who is a reviewer?

What do the Quiz Creator, Corrector and Quizmaster grades mean?

Quiz Creator Grade

After you submit your own quiz to the website, you will receive a letter grade that represents how good of a quiz creator you are. This is calculated with a secret formula that includes the number of times you resubmitted each quiz before it was accepted, the number of problems found after it was accepted, the popularity of the quiz, and other secret criteria. This grade is useful to you as a general guide to knowing how well you are doing with your quizzes. If your grade is low, you can improve it by creating more interesting quizzes, and by thoroughly proofreading your quiz for errors before submitting it.

Additionally, you must have a B or better to become a Quizmaster yourself. This criteria is in place to ensure that Quizmasters have the skill necessary to correctly review other people's quizzes.

Quiz Corrector Grade

Once you have enough points to be able to submit corrections on quizzes, you can help us improve the quality of each quiz by fixing errors. When you do this, you will receive a quiz corrector grade. This represents the accuracy of your corrections. To ensure that you maintain a high grade, make sure that the corrections that you are submitting are valid and that you clearly describe what needs to be changed.

If your quiz corrector grade drops too low, you will be blocked from submitting corrections for a short period of time. This is to prevent people from spamming up the system and wasting everyone's time.

Quizmaster Grade

Anyone can become a Quizmaster and start helping Braingle review quizzes that are submitted. Once you review enough quizzes, you will receive a Quizmaster grade. This is calculated from a variety of factors, including your accuracy, the politeness and helpfulness of your comments, and the number of quiz corrections that you help verify.

This grade is here to help you become a better Quizmaster. The best way to improve your grade is to help quiz creators improve their quizzes by finding all the errors. Another way to improve your Quizmaster grade is by fixing errors to existing quizzes by verifying corrections that other people have submitted.

If your grade drops too low, you may lose your ability to continue to be a Quizmaster.

How do I change my Avatar?

First click on "my account" at the top of the page. Then click on "Edit Personal Information".

You will need to upload your avatar to braingle using this form. To do this, you must have your avatar as an image somewhere on your computer. If have a url for your avatar, you must download it to your computer first, and then upload it to braingle.

Once you change your avatar, you may need to refresh your web browser or empty your browsers cache to see your new avatar.

When you make a purchase via PayPal, your account will be credited as soon as PayPal notifies us of the payment. With purchases made by credit card and your PayPal balance, these are usually instantaneous, but may take up to a few hours. With purchases made by your bank account or eCheck, it may take up to a week for the funds to clear. Please keep this in mind.

How do I become a Quizmaster?

Anyone can become a Quizmaster. Even you! To become a Quizmaster, you must meet a series of pre-requisites:

1. You must be a member of Braingle for 3 months.
2. You must have at least 1 green karma arrow .
3. You must have a score of at least 500.
4. You must have written at least 5 quizzes.
5. You must have a Quiz Creator Grade and Quiz Corrector Grade of at least a B

Once you meet all of the above requirements, you are eligible to submit an application when a position comes up for reelection in the category that you are interested in. To submit an application you must write a short essay about why you want to be a Quizmaster. At the appropriate time, an election will be held and the person with the most votes will be declared the winner.

What happens when my Braingle Subscription expires?

When your Braingle Subscription expires, your account will revert back to a regular account. This means that you will start seeing ads, your quotas will decrease, you will lose your message board title and bold name, etc.

If you have more wiki pages than is allowed under the free subscription, you will not lose these pages, but you will not be allowed to edit or add more pages until you delete some to make room.

If you have more talkboxes than are allowed under the free subscription, you will not lose them, but you will not be allowed to create more talkboxes until you delete some to make room.

If you have more talkbox members than are allowed under the free subscription, you will not be allowed to invite more members until the number of current members drops below the limit allowed for free members.

I have been a member for 1 week, but I still can't post messages.

The chat room isn't working. Why?

The chat room requires that you have the Macromedia Flash plugin installed (located here).

The chat room opens in a smaller popup window. Some popup blockers will block this window. We suggest that you turn off popup blocking for Braingle. Since Braingle will never serve a popup advertisement (we promise!), you have nothing to worry about from allowing popups from this website.

Additionally, users of the website who have bad behavior may be blocked from the chat room.

If you get a connection error after the chat window loads, then it is likely that you have a firewall that is blocking it. Firewalls are very commonly installed at businesses, schools, or internet hotspots. Additionaly, many operating systems and broadband modems have built in firewalls. If you have access to your firewall, try opening up port 10000. This is the port that Braingle's chat room uses.

Why was my teaser modified before being approved?

Teasers that are approved are proof read by our editors. We will correct any small errors that we may find. Also, we will often write in a better title and move the teaser to a more appropriate category. If a teaser contains too many errors in spelling, punctuation or grammar, it will be returned to you for correction and re-submittal. If you want to have the best chance of having your teaser appear as you wrote it, please check it over for spelling and grammar errors, write a good title and make sure it is in the proper category.

Your vote has been counted.

How do I correct a quiz that has problems?

If you have at least 500 points, then you are allowed to correct quizzes. After you have taken a quiz, there will be a small link that says "Problems?" below each question. If the question has a problem, you can report it this way.

When you submit a correction on a quiz, it first goes to the creator of that quiz. They have 7 days in which to make a comment about your proposed correction. Once they have commented or allowed 7 days to elapse, a Quizmaster is allowed to review the comments and make any necessary changes.

For submitting a correction that gets approved, you will earn 5 points. You do not get points for correcting your own quiz. Submitting too many corrections that are rejected, may get your account blocked from submitting more corrections in the future, so be careful to only submit valid corrections.

I keep getting logged out.

This website uses cookies to keep you logged in from page to page. If you cannot remain logged in, then your web browser is having problems accepting cookies. Please upgrade your browser, or turn cookies on.

If you are using a PC and have Internet Explorer as you browser, here is how to enable cookies. First, from the "Tools" menu select "Internet Options". Now click on the "Privacy" tab. Slide the slider all the way down to "Accept All Cookies". Now logging into the website should work. This will also help other websites work properly. As far as we know there is very little reason to have your browser reject cookies.

How do I become an editor?

You must have a high score and have some high quality teasers approved to the site before become an editor. Additionally, you should participate in the message boards, report duplicates, correct teasers and generally prove to us that you want to be an editor. Editors are hand picked by the current editors based on their participation in all areas of the website. A good candidate will not need to ask us to become an editor. If you participate in all areas of the website in a productive manner we will notice you.

I see an advertisement that I don't like. What can I do?

Advertisements are necessary to help us make money and keep Braingle running for everyone to enjoy. Braingle tries very hard to make sure that the ads that appear on our website are family friendly and are not overly intrusive. For this reason, Braingle does not display pop-up ads, adult ads, suggestive ads, dating ads, extreme flashing ads, ads with non-user initiated audio, or ads that expand to take up a large portion of the webpage.

If you see any ads that violate these rules, it is possible that one of our advertisers has slipped up and let one get through our filters. If you let us know about it, we can usually track it down and remove it from the website. To help us remove any bad ads, please do the following:

1. Note the id number adjacent to the ad that you don't like. This is a small grey two digit number to the right, or below the ad.

2. Take a screen snapshot of the ad.

On Windows you do this by pressing the "print screen" button. This copies the picture to your clipboard. Now, open a graphics program. There is one in the start menu under Programs > Accessories > Paint. Select "Paste" from the edit menu. Now, select "Save" from the file menu, but before you save the file, make sure to select "JPEG" from the "Save as type" menu.

On a Macintosh you hold down SHIFT+APPLE and then press the number 3. This will make a screen snapshot file on your desktop.

If you cannot take a snapshot for some reason, please make a thorough description of what it was advertising and what it looked like.

3. Note the date and time that you saw the ad.

4. Email everything to brain@braingle.com. Be sure to include the image, id number, date and why you don't like the ad.

How are the Teaser/Quiz of the day picked?

When taking a quiz, how are grades calculated?

When you take a trivia quiz, your percentage is calculated by dividing the questions you got correct by the total number of questions. This percentage is then converted to a letter grade using the following table.